Soft Brutalism

New York, NY

2010

For the first annual Building Fashion, Leong Leong were selected as finalists and paired with fashion designer Siki Im. Challenged with the slim budget of $5,000 and limited to 3 days of construction, the temporary popup shop was open for 10 days beneath the High Line, adjacent to Neil Denari’s HL23.

From inception, the design was grounded by explicit dualities (light vs. dark, hard vs. soft, etc.), hoping that the liminal space created between these dichotomies would invite the ambiguity needed to question traditional definitions of retail space.